From the 'Well of the Retching Cure' to a commuter village on the M9 motorway

Attack at The Royal Oak, Carlow 1841

The following story appeared in an 1841 edition of The Standard newspaper, which had copied an article from the Carlow Sentinel. It talked about an attack at an area called the Royal Oak which is near Bagenalstown, a couple of miles inside the Carlow border from Paulstown.

A respectable elector named Andrew Marshall, was violently assaulted, and would have been killed but for the protection afforded him by Mr. Nash, the coach agent. The state of the village these six weeks past is disgraceful to any county pretending to civilization; and if the government do not send a party of police to preserve the peace, it is impossible to say what the consequences may be, as it is invaded every night by mobs from Paulstown, county of Kilkenny, and that district.[1]

[1] Author Unknown, Disorganised Condition of the County of Carlow in The Standard, 10 August 1841, p.1; 19th Century British Library Newspapers http://newspapers.bl.uk : accessed 4 November 2011